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Destination – DHL in Bicester (serving Kraft Foods logistics operation)

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On Wednesday 4 May a group of 16 Supply Chain Management students made a visit to the DHL logistics operations facility in Bicester.

Working on behalf of Kraft Foods in the UK DHL manages the stock warehousing and distribution of all of the Kraft Foods ranges in the UK. With the recent merger with Cadbury, this has added further products and volume to the business. The warehouse area was certainly impressive, holding up to £36 million worth of stock (brands such as Kenco coffees and Toblerone). Undoubtedly with this amount of stock, most of which has limited shelf-life, there is strict batch control to support customer requirements for fresh products. The 42,000-location automated warehouse and the systems control ensure this dependability for Kraft’s customers.

For the students this was an opportunity to see a real “logistics operation” in practice. During the visit we were shown how the organisation works, and shown both the goods receipting and storage processes, and forward logistics to the retailers.

Students’ comments following the visit included – “good to see it ‘for real’ rather than on the paper”, “really interesting”.

DHL have 4 key areas of business including its famous Express packages and mail services. DHL Bicester is just one of its operations within its Supply Chain grouping.